Schulische Umwelterziehung und Umweltbewußtsein

„Abstract“ Pantring, Heinz Schulische Umwelterziehung und Umweltbewußtsein. Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Umwelterziehung und zum Umweltbewußtsein an Wiesbadener Schulen. Das Ziel der als Fallstudie konzipierten Untersuchung bestand darin, die Wirksamkeit schulischer Umwelterziehung nicht nur auf der Wissens- und Einstellungsdimension des Umweltbewußtseins, sondern vor allen Dingen auf die Dimension des Umwelthandelns im Sinne von „ökologischem Tun“ in Abhängigkeit von manifesten Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen wie Alter, Geschlecht und Dauer des Schulbesuchs zu überprüfen. Diese Überprüfung geschah durch das Angebot an alle Schüler und Lehrer, sich an einer konkreten Umweltaktion - Anlage eines Feuchtbiotops - zu beteiligen. An den Fragebogenerhebungen waren 1821 Schüler der 4., 8. und 12. Klassen aus 19 Wiesbadener Grund- und weiterführenden Schulen beteiligt. Parallel wurden bei den 550 Lehrerinnen und Lehrern, die an den entsprechenden Schulen unterrichteten, unter anderem Ausmaß und Qualität schulischer Umwelterziehung und umweltbezogener Fortbildung sowie Aspekte der Ökologisierung von Schule und Ansichten zum Umweltunterricht erfaßt. Wesentliche Ergebnisse waren: 1) Die zur Zeit praktizierte umweltorientierte Lehrerfortbildung erreicht nur einen geschlossenen Teilnehmerkreis. 2) Eine qualitative Verbesserung des Umweltunterrichtes ist eher auf Privatinitiative, als auf ein umfassendes institutionalisiertes umweltbezogenes Fortbildungsange-bot zurückzuführen. 3) Grundschüler zeigen ein ausgeprägteres Umweltbewußtsein als Schüler weiterführender Schulen. 4) Ein Großteil der in den Grundschulen durch eine intensive Schüler - Lehrer - Interaktion erreichte Motivation für Umweltprobleme und Umweltthemen geht beim Übergang von den Grundschulen zu den weiterführenden Schulen - insbesondere Gymnasien - verloren. Im Alter von 13 - 16 Jahren fallen die Schüler in ein „Motivationsloch“ für Umwelt-erziehung. 5) Schüler zeigen eine deutliche Diskrepanz zwischen verbalem umweltorientierten Engagement und dem faktisch praktizierten „Ökologischen Tun“. 6) Es gibt keinen signifikanten Zusammenhang zwischen der umweltbezogenen Handlungsbereitschaft von Schülern und der Qualität des Umweltunterrichtes. 7) Das bei Schülern allgemein entwickelte Umweltbewußtsein hängt eher mit ihrer Sozialisation in einer umweltbewußteren Zeit als mit den unmittelbaren Anstrengungen der Schule zusammen.

Studio e analisi di software per il porting di codice a 64 bit

XCModel è un sistema CAD, basato su NURBS, realizzato ed utilizzato in ambiente accademico. È composto da quattro pacchetti per la modellazione 2D, 3D e la resa foto-realistica, ognuno dotato di una propria interfaccia grafica. Questi pacchetti sono in costante evoluzione: sia per le continua evoluzioni dell’hardware che ai cambiamenti degli standard software. Il sistema nel complesso raccoglie la conoscenza e l’esperienza nella modellazione geometrica acquisita nel tempo dai progettisti. XCModel, insieme ai suoi sottosistemi, sono stati progettati per diventare un laboratorio di insegnamento e ricerca utile a sperimentare ed imparare metodi ed algoritmi nella modellazione geometrica e nella visualizzazione grafica. La natura principalmente accademica, e la conseguente funzione divulgativa, hanno richiesto continui aggiornamenti del programma affinché potesse continuare a svolgere la propria funzione nel corso degli anni. La necessità di continuare a ad evolversi, come software didattico, anche con il moderno hardware, è forse il principale motivo della scelta di convertire XCModel a 64 bit; una conversione che ho svolto in questa tesi. Come molte altre applicazioni realizzate a 32 bit, la maggior parte del codice viene eseguito correttamente senza problemi. Vi sono però una serie di problematiche, a volte molto subdole, che emergono durante la migrazione delle applicazioni in generale e di XCModel in particolare. Questa tesi illustra i principali problemi di portabilità riscontrati durante il porting a 64 bit di questo pacchetto seguendo il percorso da me intrapreso: mostrerò gli approcci adottati, i tool utilizzati e gli errori riscontrati.

"Cutting for love": genital incisions to enhance sexual desirability and commitment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Several studies have documented women's use of vaginal practices in South Africa to enhance their desirability to men. This article describes a little known practice of this kind among women in KwaZulu-Natal. It involves the use of small incisions in the genital area (and often abdomen and breasts) to introduce herbal substances, described as love medicines, into the body through the incisions. In-depth interviews were carried out with 20 key informants and 20 women, and eight focus group discussions with women and men, in a rural and urban site in 2005-06. A province-wide household survey was then conducted using a multi-stage cluster sample design among 867 women aged 18-60. Forty-two per cent of the women in the household survey had heard of genital incisions; only 3% had actually used them. The main motivation was the enhancement of sexual attractiveness and long-term partner commitment. It appears to be a very recent practice, but may be an extension of an older healing practice not involving the genitals. It was most prevalent among rural women aged 24-29 (although not significant), those with less education, and those who suspected their partners of having other partners. It is linked to the modern popularity of love medicines, which in turn illustrates the troubling state of gender relations in KwaZulu-Natal today.

Beyond Kantianism - Response to Critiques

I am flattered and privileged to have received four such astute critiques of my work from an international cast. I will reflect at length about many of their points in future work but to respond fully would require a very long article and so I will highlight some of the more salient issues. The authors share misgivings about my commitment to a realist version of governmentality theory so I will try to articulate a bit more clearly how it is different from two major alternative perspectives highlighted by the authors: what I term a `discursive` governmentality perspective (Stenson 2005), and the neo-Marxist regulationist school of political economy. However, deeper normative questions are raised, for example by Wendy Larner, about what it means to be progressive or critical within the broad terrain of liberalism (which can include neo-liberals and neo-conservatives) in the wake of the collapse of communism and much of the power of western labour movements, the rise of the new emancipatory and environmental social movements and varieties of religious fundamentalism. As social scientists and university intellectuals we usually argue that our work differs from journalistic reportage or ideological polemics that gather supportive evidence through selective fact gathering. This is because we dig beneath the flux of events and surface appearances and debates to uncover the deeper structures of thought and social relations that shape our experiences and the flow of events. And we also engage with contrary evidence that troubles our truth claims. This is the work of theory. I accept that theory plays a vital role but argue for a more grounded approach rooted in empirical research using a variety of methods and data sources. Hence I adopt a more cautious approach to conceptions of the `deeper structures` we uncover. At best we can only know them through provisional heuristic modelling and it is best not to reify them.